Suddenly Brilliant
by brightblue
Summary: “It is only one moment of hundreds, millions but it is perhaps the most important moment in Juliet’s life so far.” Brief missing scene from An Evening With Mr. Wang. Shules-ish.


Title: Suddenly Brilliant

Author: brightblue

Rating: T (Probably not that high, but just to be safe…)

Category: Episode fic. Missing scene, sort of, from the season 3 finale. Shules-ish.

Spoilers: Definitely the Season 3 finale.

Summary: "It is only one moment of hundreds, millions but it is perhaps the most important moment in Juliet's life so far."

Notes: Found this languishing on my hard drive. It's the first Psych fic I've finished in a long while. I've been unable to write because my job is a soul-sucking, time-sucking endeavor, but occasionally things seep through. (Is it summer yet?) I am sure there is a ton of great finale fic, but I haven't had the time to peruse it yet. I'm sure this has been done to death, but apparently I was inspired to write up Juliet's "a-ha!" moment that lead to the end of the finale.

So…a brief moment of reflection for our favorite lady detective….and roll it:

_Sometimes the moments that make the most sense happen when everything else doesn't._

There is a moment-- one single instant that can be drawn out into minutes or hours or days, but is really just an inconsequential span of time relative to the major events contained within that day. It is only one moment of hundreds, millions but it is perhaps the most important moment in Juliet's life so far.

She sees Shawn as color, or no….a _prism_. He takes all the light in the room, steals it, changes it, and sends it right back out to the world in unexpected rainbows. The ordinary, the unseen, suddenly become brilliant.

Maybe that's why she never realized it before; she was too distracted by the trick of light.

But today…today, Shawn is not showing her the colors hidden in the world. How could he? His spirit has dulled so that it only emits feathered, inky shadows—bleak imitations of his typical radiance. And yet…she finds herself entranced by him, even more so than usual. The entire SBPD is held at bay by the force of Shawn's anguish; they choke on his despair. For Juliet, though, the reaction is different. She is in awe. She is struck hard by the sheer weight of emotion she feels in response to Shawn's pain; her heart is breaking for him. Of course, it always hurts her to see a friend in pain. But this is something different. This cuts deeper, much deeper.

From across the room she can see the dark fury that burns in his eyes; she knows he hasn't given up, knows this without a doubt.

And for one single instant, in that brief uncertainty between heartbeats, her eyes catch on his and then she knows. She would do anything he asked of her. Anything to ease his pain she feels as if it were her own. A whole room separates them, not to mention years of false starts, rebuffs, and heavy moments, and still she knows that it wasn't all for nothing. That whatever this is between them is going somewhere. That all of this will be worth it. Someday.

She loves him, is in love with him, and instead of it hitting her like a brick wall, the thought is more like a smooth dive into a gentle wave. The sensation washes over her, embraces her, cradles her and becomes so much a part of her body that she feels weightless and free.

So this is what love feels like, she thinks.

But then Shawn's gaze slides away from hers and he's banging on the desk and his mother is still missing and the world keeps turning….

Yes, the moment is gone but the feeling is not. Buoyed by this revelation, Juliet resolves that should they get through today (and she knows, trusts implicitly, that if anyone can catch this psycho, it's Shawn) she won't bury this feeling.

Not a feeling. The truth. She loves Shawn. And it's time she did something about it.

_Fin._

'Twas brief, but I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Also, I have to say that I appreciate each and every review that still trickles in for my old fics (and the Psychfic Award Nominations—thank you all so much!). When life is crappy, nothing is more uplifting than seeing that someone somewhere enjoyed what I wrote. It truly makes my day! So thank you again! Without people reading, this could all just rot in my head!


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